Egg carton



.April 211,k 1936. A PAYNE, 1Rv 2,037,818

EGG CARTON Filed Aug. A26, 1955 2,5Jtxeeos-S11eafer,v l

#Harney aten-tecl Apr. 21), 1936 UNETED STATES PATENT oFFlcE 6 Claims.

The invention relates to pasteboard cartons specially designed forcontaining eggs in indivdual pockets arranged in rows lengthwise of thecarton.

5 The invention particularly concerns a carton in which the pockets areformed by a bottom Wall in the shape of an inverted V which providesadjoining troughs. The troughs are divided into separate pockets bypartitions hung from the front and rear walls and interlocked with thebottom Wall.

The invention has for its object the production of an improved cartonstructure of this type, one that is sturdy of construction and facile ofmanufacture. A distinctive feature resides in the mode of connecting thepartitions to the front and the rear walls, and a further feature liesin the locking means of the lid.

The invention will be best understood by refer- 20 ence to theaccompanying drawings in which Figure l is an end view of the cartonshowing the lid slightly raised.

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the carton with the lid open and brokenaway.

Figure 3 is a front view illustrating the lid partly locked to the body.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary View of a couple of the partitions showing themode of suspending them from their top edges.

Figure 5 is a plan View of the blank from which the carton is made.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of thefigures throughout the drawings of the invention.

As usual with containers of this nature, the carton is constructed of asingle blank of sheet material as shown in Figure 5. The blank issuitably scored along lines designated at 6 in order to fold into a bodyand lid together with parti- 40 tions that are swingable downwardly tovcompose the pockets.

Both the front wall 1 and the rear Wall 8 have a bottom portion orsection 9 inwardly inclined from which the inverted V I upwardly extendsto compose a bottom wall. This forms a pair of adjoining troughs II, II.The sides I2 of the V have two series of holes I3' to enable thepartitions to interlock with the bottom wall. The lid I3 folds o-verfrom a point slightly above the partitions I4 and has a frontaldown-turned lip I from which the locking lugs I6 project.

In order to firmly suspend and connect the partitions, they arefashioned at each end with a large gusset I'I on one side and a smallgusset I8 on the other side. To form the double gusset structure, a slotI9 is cut or otherwise struck out A of the blank at opposite ends o-fthe partitions, which slot has angular ends. The lower corner of eachpartition is cut off on an angle coinciding with an end of the adjacentslot to compose the large gusset. The slots make the partitions of aless length than the width of the carton body which not only givesclearance for freely' bending down the partitions but also enables thefront and rear walls to converge slightly, as shown in Figure 1.

An attaching strip 20 is supplied at an end of the blank in order thatit may be bent downwardly and glued to the inner face of the rear wallso as to connect and support the rear gussets. It will be understoodthat the gussets are scored or otherwise prepared for folding along theconnecting lines on which they bend, which lines are indicated in Figure5.

Each partition has a slot 22 inwardly extending from its bottom edge toreceive the apex of the V bottom wall. Each slot is formed with opposingtongues 23 that interlock with the holes in the sides of the V bottom.The extreme partitions constitute ends for the body and 'one of thesepartitions may be carried by a strip 24.

The locking lugs I6 at the front of the lid are positioned alternatelywith respect to the gussets of the front wall. Each has oppositeV-shaped ends 25 of which the lower angular edge 26 serves to guide thelug inwardly upon engagement with a registering large and small gusset.The upper angular edge 21 locks under the corresponding gusset to securethe lid. It will be understood from the preceding description that eachlarge and small lug of the front wall, in addition to rigidly and rmlyuniting a partition, also serves to co-operate with the lugs to lock thelid in closed position.

A distinctive advantage of this construction is that the lugs readilyinterlock with the gussets and are easily detached by pressing inwardlyon the lip of the lid.

What I claim is:

1. An egg carton having front and rear walls and transverse partitionssuspended from said front and rear walls in the vicinity of the topthereof, said partitions terminating short of said walls and beingsuspended therefrom by a large gusset on one side of the partitionsjoined thereto, and a small gusset on the other side of said partitionsintegral with the large gusset and extending from the end of thepartitions to the adjacent Wall.

2. A blank for folding into an egg carton, said blank having atransverse series of partitions cut therein with slots adjoining theends of the partitions, the lower corners of the partitions being cut01T on an angle of which an end of the slots forms a, continuation toprovide large gussets, the other end of the slots being cut on aconcurrent angle to supply small reinforcing gussets.

3. An egg carton having front and rear walls, transverse partitions,gussets extending from both sides of the partitions to hang them fromthe upper portions of the front and rear walls, a lid carried by therear wall and extending forwardly over the partitions to the front wall,said lid having a downturned lip, and lugs longitudinally formed on thelip alternately of the gussets on the front wall, said lugs havingopposite V- shaped ends for interlocking engagement with said gussets.

4. An egg carton composed of front and rear walls having their lowerportions inwardly inclined, a perforated bottom Wall in the form of aninverted V forming with the front and rear Walls a pair of troughs,transverse partitions dividing the troughs into egg-receiving pockets,said partitions having slots extending inwardly from their bottom edgesand shaped to form tongues for interfitting with the perforations in thebottom wall, a complementary pair of gussets at each end of thepartitions and extending from opposite sides thereof suspending themfrom the upper portions of the front and rear walls, a lid carried bythe rear wall, a frontal lip depending from the lid, and lugslongitudinally arranged on the lip and having V-shaped ends forintertting with each of the aforesaid complementary gussets.

5. In an egg carton having a transverse partition hanging from front andrear Walls by means of a gusset structure integral with the top of eachend portion of the partition, said gusset structure consisting of a pairof co-planar gussets at right angles to said partition, the gussets eX-tending from opposite sides of the partition, one of the gussets beingof a less amplitude than the other so as to provide a connecting stripwith the partition.

6. An egg carton having front and rear walls:

